Bush calls for ban on same-sex marriage

Constitutional amendment urged; move hailed, assailed

By BOB DEANS, COX NEWS SERVICE

Updated 10:00 pm, Tuesday, February 24, 2004

WASHINGTON -- President Bush called yesterday for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, saying that a growing trend toward same-sex weddings threatens "the most fundamental institution of civilization."

Conservatives rallied around the move while Democrats and gay rights groups assailed it, setting the tone for what promises to be an emotionally charged election year face-off pitting Bush and his Republican base against a vocal minority with increasing clout.

Bush weighed in on the divisive issue after weeks in which more than 3,000 gay couples have wed in San Francisco and as Massachusetts braces for a court-ordered May deadline for performing gay marriages.

In brief and sober remarks at the White House, Bush argued that the Constitution was the only tool left to keep "activist judges" and other officials from redefining marriage.

"If we are to prevent the meaning of marriage from being changed forever, our nation must enact a constitutional amendment to protect marriage in America," Bush told reporters in the Roosevelt Room.

"Ages of experience have taught humanity that the commitment of a husband and wife to love and to serve one another promotes the welfare of children and the stability of society. Marriage cannot be severed from its cultural, religious and natural roots without weakening the good influence of society."

While calling on Congress to quickly pass a constitutional ban on gay marriage, Bush said states should be allowed to retain authority to define "legal arrangements other than marriage," leaving the door open to civil unions for same-sex couples.

Bush's remarks drew immediate fire from members of the gay community, an estimated 1 million of whom voted for him in 2000, and from Democrats on the presidential campaign trail.

"Writing discrimination into our Constitution violates conservative and Republican principles," said Patrick Guerriero, executive director of Log Cabin Republicans, a pro-GOP group representing some 10,000 gay and lesbian members nationwide.

"Hundreds of loyal gay and lesbian Republicans and our allies serve in the Bush administration, work on his re-election campaign and work for GOP members of Congress," Guerriero said. "We are firmly resolved to defeat this amendment."

"I believe President Bush is wrong," said Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., the leading Democratic candidate to unseat Bush in November.

"All Americans should be concerned when a president who is in political trouble tries to tamper with the Constitution of the United States at the start of his re-election campaign," Kerry said in a statement. "He is looking for a wedge issue to divide the American people."

Kerry's home state is near the eye of the storm. In November, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that the state's constitution gives same-sex couples the right to marry.

Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., echoed Kerry's view that marriage issues are matters for states to regulate, not the federal government.

"I don't personally support gay marriage myself," Edwards said in Georgia. "My position has always been that it's for the states to decide."

Traditionally, marriage has been a state issue, not a matter for the federal government, said constitutional scholar Garrett Epps.

"The question would be, 'Why do we need the federal government to step in and put a stop to this state experimentation?"' said Epps, a professor of law at the University of Oregon in Eugene.

Congress stepped in eight years ago to pass the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as the legal union between a man and a woman when it comes to federal law.

The 1996 law doesn't bar states from developing their own laws on the matter, and some now recognize civil unions, which accord same-sex partners some of the legal and financial protections, on the state level, that heterosexual married couples enjoy.

Advocates for gay and lesbian rights, however, claim that in addition to their basic desire to be married, civil unions don't provide same-sex couples with full protections and benefits. And, under the 1996 law, a civil union undertaken in, say, Vermont, doesn't have to be recognized by any other state.

Bush yesterday voiced concern that the state-by-state approach to gay marriage threatened to undermine the federal law, which critics have asserted was unconstitutional.

Recent polls suggest that the public is narrowly divided over whether homosexual relationships should be outlawed, and a solid majority opposes legalization of gay marriage. Only about four in 10, however, favor a constitutional amendment banning the practice; most prefer to leave marital matters up to the states, 38 of which have passed measures barring the recognition of same-sex marriage.

Utah's House approved an amendment to the state constitution yesterday barring gay marriage. If the measure passes the Senate, then wins the backing of a simple majority in a statewide vote in November, it will take effect in January.

Bush appealed for moderation in the discourse on this subject, urging Americans on both sides of the issue to refrain from "bitterness or anger" and to "match strong convictions with kindness and goodwill and decency."

That plea rang hollow to gay rights advocates, some of whom accused Bush of using the issue to curry favor with his conservative base.

The issue has left at least one conservative member of the Bush administration in a potentially awkward position.

Vice President Dick Cheney has a daughter who is openly gay, and thousands of people have weighed in through an Internet campaign urging her to publicly lobby against the constitutional ban.